Commercial passenger airlines typically aim to optimise seating on their aircraft to increase the comfort of passengers, yet achieving a high density of passengers per unit of floor area or for a given aircraft cabin volume.
Typically seats in an aircraft are arranged so that passengers seated on the seats face in a direction parallel with the fore-aft direction of the aircraft. This has been the situation for seats in first class, business class, premium economy and economy sections in the aircraft for many years. For example seats are arranged in rows all facing forwards.
One of the problems associated with these seating configurations is that passengers end up sitting shoulder to shoulder. This may be awkward for larger passengers in particulars.
Another problem associated with such seating configurations is that passengers are afforded little privacy.
More recently seating arrangements have been arranged to offer the individual more privacy and allow for more convenient and comfortable seating of passengers, while attempting to maximise passenger density.
One such example of more recent proposed seating arrangements is the seating arrangement shown in United States patent application US2007/0069073 by Ferry et al. This publication shows a seating layout wherein the seats do not face directly forwardly and seated passengers face at an acute angle to the fore-aft direction of the aircraft.
The seats are arranged as single units and occupy a relatively large amount of space. They are also designed with privacy in mind and do not facilitate interaction with passengers in seats adjacent.
Such seats are typically intended to be used in first or business class sections of an aircraft.
United States patent application US2007/0246981 by Plant shows a different seating arrangement. In this arrangement two seats are located side by side and are angled at an acute angle relative to the fore-aft direction line of the aircraft such that the seats face partly inwardly towards each other.
In this specification, where reference has been made to external sources of information, including patent specifications and other documents, this is generally for the purpose of providing a context for discussing the features of the present invention. Unless stated otherwise, reference to such sources of information is not to be construed, in any jurisdiction, as an admission that such sources of information are prior art or form part of the common general knowledge in the art.